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The Raven-sara (.Agathopkyllum Aromaticum ) is 
the Madagascar all-spice. This tree is deserving of 
particular notice: its leaves yield, on distillation, an oil 
which partakes of the. united perfumes of the clove, 
cinnamon, and nutmeg. The cooks in India use this 
perfume in preference to all other spices for ragouts. 
The tree itself grows very large and bushy, and is 
found thriving on every soil throughout the island. 
Its branches grow in form of a pyramid, and its wood 
is white, inodorous, and heavy: its fruit is a real 
nutmeg, flattened at both ends, and has a more 
delicate smell than the leaves. Flacourt says it was 
rare in his time, because the natives cut it down to get 
at the fruit. 
There is abundance of white pepper (Lali Vitsi) 
in the province of Manghabei; it grows in other parts; 
but there the woods are loaded on all sides with it. It 
ripens in the months of August, September, and 
October, when the turtledoves and wood-pigeons 
feed on it. 
The great Cardamum, (Angustafolium), otherwise 
Malaguet, or grain of Paradise, grows also in 
abundance, in the province of Galemboule: the fruit 
is as red as scarlet, the meat white, of an agreeable 
tart flavour, with black seed. 
The true ginger (Zinzinber), is also grown there. 
Flacourt says it is not plentiful, but Francis Gauche 
affirms that it grows throughout the island, and that 
the natives plant it round their houses for the pur¬ 
pose of catching the rain, which falls on its leaves, 
